Australia has so far avoided the worst of the global trend of rising inflation, a research paper has found. The study (pdf) from the Centre for Independent Studies, a think tank specialising in public policy research, has found that while most countries were now witnessing the highest rates of consumer price inflation in decades, with the United States being one of the worst affected economies as its annual consumer price inflation soared to 7.5 percent in January 2022, Australia is experiencing far lower growth in inflationary pressures. The study noted that inflation in Australia had laid low until mid-year before gaining momentum in the three months to September and then speeding up sharply in the final quarter of 2021 to reach 3.5 percent in 2021, which was lower than the global average of nearly 4.5 percent. However, this is still above the target band of 2-3 percent set by the Reserve …